Shane took a deep breath in and an even deeper breath out. “Shit,” he said.
“Why would you do that to her? Two days after you told her how sorry you were and how much you wanted to be with her? Did you actually think she’d be okay with that?”
“I didn’t purposely do it!” Shane tried defending himself.
“Oh, it was an accident?” Ava challenged.
“No, I mean, like…”
“Uh, like, I, uh, duh,” Ava mocked.
“Why are you being such a bitch??”
“You can’t just hurt my best friend like that and then try to get me on your side.”
“So if you’re not going to help me then why are you here?”
Ava opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. Why was she here? To report back to Savannah what Shane said. She couldn’t tell him that though.
“Look, she likes you too,” Ava took a huge risk in this game. “But she doesn’t trust you. So when I see you doing stuff like this, it bothers me. I don’t want you to hurt her again.”
“I’m not trying to hurt her,” Shane said, and Ava couldn’t tell if it was true or not.
“Yet you’re doing shit like that and not making any attempt to show her you like her,” Ava said.
“Well, that’s part of the reason that I wanted you to come over. Do you think you could help me prove to Savannah that I really like her?” Shane asked.
“Of course,” Ava grasped the opportunity, taking the lead in the game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What did he say??” Savannah opened the door for Ava and let her into her house. Ava had walked straight from Shane’s house to Savannah’s, eager to tell her the new information that she’d learned.
“He thinks I’m on his side and that I’m going to help him get you!” Ava said.
“Why would you tell him that??”
“Because, Sav,” Ava said, as if it were obvious. “I could spend more time with him, get him to trust me, and then boom. Hook up with him.”
“This is perfect,” Savannah smiled. “He’s never going to even see it coming.”
“I know,” Ava smiled. “And I don’t know if you’re going to find this creepy or sweet but guess what?”
“What?”
“I was looking at the pictures on Shane’s living room and kitchen walls and there was this one picture-”
“The teletubby one?” Savannah laughed.
“No! It was a new one….you were in it,” Ava said.
“What?”
"It was Shane holding you in your Cinderella dress on Halloween as he was in his suit. You’re laughing and holding onto him and he’s looking straight into your eyes and you could just tell, he really liked you,” Ava said. She felt awful knowing that not even one month later, she ruined that.
“Why is it still hanging up?” Savannah asked. She remembered when Mrs. Palmer took that picture and said it was her favorite one of them. Savannah never really thought of it, but she would’ve assumed that Shane made his mom take it down.
“I have no idea!” Ava said. “I’ll try to find out.”
“Do you think he still likes me? Like, as much as he says he does?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. The way he talks about you and the things he says make it seem like he truly does, but you and I know the best not to trust Shane. And as much as this is going to hurt you, I need to tell you. He-”
“Had sex with Lexi,” Savannah said sadly. “I know.”
“How?”
“I heard so many people talking about it. Even Lex herself with Paige and Tiff.”
“Why didn’t you text me?”
“I don’t know,” Savannah said. “What were you gonna do? Yell at him for it?”
“I’m sorry,” Ava said. “But if it makes you feel better, I think Shane regrets it. He talked about it a little with me and he didn’t want you to know because he knew it would upset you.”
“Did he find out why I’m mad?”
“Yeah,” Ava said. “I made it perfectly clear for him.” Savannah laughed, only being able to imagine what Ava had done.
“And he still hasn’t even apologized. Maybe he’d rather be with Lex,” Savannah said. “Or Willow. Or Autumn. Or any other girl but me.”
“Believe me Sav, Shane is going to get with as many girls as he can. But there’s one thing that he can’t resist, and that’s a chase. And if there’s one thing he can’t stand, it’s losing. Don’t give up now.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re winning.”